Children with mental health challenges at an Edgware school can now benefit from animal-assisted therapy thanks to a charity grant.

The Jack Petchey Foundation, which celebrates the achievements of young people in Essex and London, gave Northgate School in Burnt Oak Broadway a grant of £500 to buy indoor and outdoor enclosures for two rabbits.

Assistant Head Teacher at Northgate Beverley Herridge said students at the school benefited greatly from having the rabbits and the responsibilities that come with cleaning and feeding them, which gave students a sense of purpose, achievement and belonging.

She said: “Students find being able to handle and look after live animals has a calming influence when they are feeling vulnerable or unable to engage in education. For many students, the rabbits provide a purpose for coming to school.”

The animals have been at the school since they were very young, and are extremely tame and used to being handled.

Mrs Herridge added: “It’s not unusual to enter a classroom at this school and see a student in a lesson with a rabbit on his or her lap.”

Students can easily access the outdoor enclosure and can sit with the rabbits when they want some space. Students and their parents greatly support the initiative.

One student said: “I couldn’t go to school last week because I was too anxious, but I would really have liked to sit in the rabbit cage and just be with the rabbits.”

A parent of a child with treatment resistant schizophrenia said: “My child loves the rabbits, she talks about them all the time at home and looks forward to going to school just to see them.”

The Jack Petchey Foundation's grants officer for north west London Rowena Clewlow said: “I am really pleased to hear that the project is a success and the small grant has been put to good use.

"This is an imaginative project and one which is evidently making a significant difference to the students both in and out of the classroom.”